Frog’s Leap Winery
Rutherford (Napa), CA
Although we have made a few trip to Napa over the past
few months, for the most part we have visited wineries that we have talked
about in the past. When you have friends
in town that you want to make sure have a great time in Napa we tend to go to
wineries that you know will provide the experience you are looking for. Last weekend we had a couple from Oregon with
us and we only had half a day so we knew three wineries would be the
limit. We took them to Robert Biale
because we know their wines are excellent and because it is just out of Napa
and one of the closest quality wineries from our home. As before Biale did not disappoint. Their Zins and Petite Sirahs are
excellent. We next went to Frog’s Leap
and then followed that by stopping at Hall for some excellent Cabernet and then
for a cool down with a beer and great snacks at Farmstead which is becoming our
favorite end of day stop.
We had visited Frog’s Leap before but since we did not
have time for the full tasting opted for a single taste and we were impressed. We thought it would be a good place to return
to for a full tasting this time. We were
really impressed on our first visit with the building and grounds on the
property. This is a ‘reservation only’
winery and at least in the summer time it is important to make reservations
early. I think I was making reservations
on the Wednesday before (we went on a Sunday) and many of the time slots were
already taken. When we arrived on Sunday
for our 1:45 reservation there was a sign out front that stated reservations
were full up for the day. There are
three different types of Tasting Experience offered. The first is a seated tasting on their deck
which faces the Mayacamas Mountains. The
second experience includes a full walking tour of the grounds followed by a
tasting and the third experience is kind of a go at your own pace Garden
tasting. By Napa standards they are
pretty reasonably priced. The seated
tasting includes a small food plate and runs $20 as does the full walking
tour. The Garden tasting runs
$15.00. We chose the Garden tasting because
I did not want to spend the 90 minutes
on the walking tour and assumed the Garden option would be really nice.
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| View from the porch |
The grounds are pretty impressive. Frog’s Leap sits on a five acre property
which includes the main Vineyard House (hospitality headquarters), several outbuildings,
which I assume are wine making buildings, and then a couple acres of gardens and
even room from chickens and farm animals.
Our Oregon guests were impressed with the variety of fruits and vegetables
growing on the property. Scattered
amongst the gardens are various seating arrangements and fountains.
When we arrived on the property we were checked in and
directed to the Garden area. There is a tasting station where you walk up and
pay your fees and receive your tastes. They quickly noted that we were new to the
tasting and provided us glasses and the first taste of Chardonnay. There were maybe 25 people scattered around the
tasting area and two host pouring which was a good ratio. My knock on the Garden tasting compared to
what I assume you would get in the Seated tasting is that we did not receive a
lot of information on each wine. Earlier
at Biale for instance we were provided very specific details about each wine we
tasted (and as bonus, Robert Biale’s mother stopped by our tasting table). I think this somewhat has to do with the fact
that they are pouring four different wines at once in the Garden depending
where you are in the process while in a seated tasting everyone is generally
tasting the same wine. We did like the
Chardonnay though.
The other wines we tasted were a Zinfandel, Cabernet and
a Petite Sirah. The wines were good but
not overwhelming. They were reasonably
priced though with the Chard at $26.00 up to the Cabernet at $42.00. They do also produce a Rutherford Cabernet at
$75.00 as well as a Merlot and a few other wines. We casually
tasted our wines and left the property without making any purchases. In fact there was not even a mention of where
we could purchase wine and no mention of a wine club. Those are usually good things when you are
trying to avoid purchasing more wine. I
think here it must have just been a really busy day.
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| Garden area |
I would not hesitate to return to Frog’s Leap with out of
town guests because it really is a beautiful facility and the grounds really
are top notch.
What we liked- The casual atmosphere and the beautiful
grounds. Next time we will do the seated
tasting though because I would like to learn more about the winery, winemakers,
owners and wine. Also they have one of
the best websites anywhere.
What we bought- We did not buy anything but I will look for
Frog’s Leap wines in the store and if I find good pricing I would buy any of
the wines we tasted.
Vitals-
Frog’s Leap Winery
8815 Conn Creek Road
Rutherford, CA 94558
(707) 963-4704
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